Series Four Rewrite With Rose
by Light-Eco-Sage
Summary: S4 episode re-writes with Rose. The Doctor now travels with the constant companionship of his wife, Rose, a new Time Lady. Join them on their adventures through Series Four of Doctor Who together! Currently working on: Voyage of the Damned.
1. Voyage of the Damned: The Ill-Fated Ship

**Series Four Rewrite With Rose  
**

**By: Light-Eco-Sage**

**Rated: Mature for character death, romance, and sexuality (Ten/Rose).**

**Summary: S4 episode re-writes with Rose. The Doctor now travels with the constant companionship of his wife, Rose, a new Time Lady. Join them on their adventures through Series Four of Doctor Who together!  
**

**Disclaimer: **_**Doctor Who**_** is owned by the BBC. If I were in charge of the show, it probably would have gone something like this…**

**LES: Well, here we get started with the Series 4 re-writes with Rose! I really liked this first episode, but I'll be glad to see how it turns out with Rose. Astrid will still play a part in this story, minus the kisses. Sorry, but the Doctor is a strictly one-woman man now, so no little romantic sub-plots… besides with Rose, that is. This story will have sex in it (except on , where it will be omitted due to website policy).**

**Voyage of the Damned  
**

**Chapter I: The Ill-Fated Ship**

* * *

Both Rose and the Doctor stared up at the hull of what apparently was the _Titanic_ which had smashed through the walls of the Tardis. The Tardis whined loudly in both their minds, but they couldn't blame her. She was bound to feel some discomfort from having a ship breaking a hole in her walls.

The Doctor tossed the floatation device aside and leapt over to the Tardis' main controls. With several deft movements, he pulled the Tardis away from the ship. As the ship's hull was removed, the Tardis quickly worked to repair herself. A few seconds later, the only clue that was left to indicate that a ship had punched a hole in the Tardis was the floatation device lying innocently on the ground.

"What was that?" Rose asked in amazement. "Do you think that was the _actual_ _Titanic_?"

"No. That's highly unlikely." The Doctor said, checking the readings on his computer. "I have been on the _Titanic_… several times before. Since I am a Time Lord, I can be in the same place in different forms without creating a paradox. But, still, having more than two or three versions of myself in the same place is never really a good idea. And, besides…" He tapped the screen. "We are nowhere near Earth in 1912."

Rose moved over to him. "Where are we then?"

"This is Christmas Eve in the year 2007, and we are in orbit above planet Earth."

"Okay, so it's not the _Titanic_, then." Rose said. "Then what is it?"

The Doctor quickly walked over to the Tardis' door, followed by Rose, and threw them open. Rose had seen the sight of Earth from orbit many times before during her journeys with the Doctor, but she never got tired of the sight.

She couldn't help herself from speaking. "No words to describe it… they should have sent a poet."

The Doctor chuckled. "They eventually do get smart and send up a poet. But it didn't turn out like they wanted. He got just as tongue-tied as everyone else." He pointed away from the planet, to something that was also in orbit around the blue planet. "There's our _Titanic_."

Rose gasped when she saw it. It was a massive spaceship that had been built to resemble the historic _Titanic_. This was not your average spaceship.

"Intergalactic cruise." The Doctor said. "A favorite pastime of the galaxy's rich and famous. They take a few years off every once in a while to travel the stars and see the sights."

"A cruise that takes _years_?" Rose gasped.

"Of course." The Doctor said. "Imagine if cruises only lasted a few days or weeks like you have on Earth. They'd barely be able to get out of their star system!" He smiled down at her. "Not every race in the galaxy has the technology to disappear in one place and reappear in another."

Rose pushed his shoulder a little. "You think you're so impressive, don't you?"

"I am so impressive!" The Doctor insisted. He gazed thoughtfully at the word "Titanic" on the space cruiser's hull. "Mind you, I don't think I'd want to take a pleasure cruise on a ship named the _Titanic_, even if it isn't the original."

"Maybe the name's just a coincidence?" Rose asked. "Maybe we should pop in?"

The Doctor shook his head. "No need. If it's a cruise that you want, I can take you on the most brilliant cruise in the entire galaxy. I could take you to watch a star being born in the Orion Nebula, we can watch the lunar dance on Malchior… they have over a hundred moons, you know, and they move through the sky in a perfectly balanced dance. Or we can just go ice fishing on Europa, that's always a bit of a laugh. And then, to finish off, I'll take you to dinner at the Restaurant at the End of the Universe to meet the real-life Arthur Dent."

"Just for a bit, Doctor?" Rose asked, giving him a pout. "We pop in, psychic paper our way into the party, mingle for a bit, and then we can leave and head for the Orion Nebula."

The Doctor's face fell when she broke out the pout. There was just something about that pout that made all of his determination melt faster than a slab of ice on Venus, which the answer was 'impressively fast'. "Ah, Rose, I can never say no to you. I swear that it will be the death of me." Rose swatted him as he closed the Tardis doors and made his way back to the controls to pilot his way into the space cruiser.

A few seconds later, the Tardis materialized in an unused closet on the _Titanic_. As soon as she had fully formed, the doors opened Rose and the Doctor stepped out. Rose looked just like any intergalactic society woman, so that she would fit in no matter what this ship's planet of origin was. To the Doctor, she looked breath-takingly lovely in a flowing red gown which hugged her body absolutely perfectly. In fact, he was perfectly tempted to forget about mingling onboard the _Titanic_ in favor of guiding her back into the Tardis, preferably to their room.

All thoughts of this sort were stopped when she moved closer to the door leading out to the rest of the ship. She stopped and grinned back at the Doctor. "Well, are you coming or what?"

The Doctor sighed. "I'm coming." He said, joining her while fidgeting with his bowtie. Rose had talked him into putting on his tuxedo… but not just any tuxedo. It was the _Tuxedo of Doom_, so named because bad things always seemed to happen when he wore it.

Rose had dismissed his protests. "As if nothing happens when you wear your pinstripes and Converse." Well… she did sort of have a point, but he wasn't going to admit it. The fact remained that they _occasionally_ had peaceful trips when he was wearing his usual suit, and he was yet to find any situation where wearing this Tuxedo of Doom hadn't led to… well, doom. "You look very handsome in that suit, if I do say so myself." She commented.

"Well… I suppose that's a good enough reason to wear it as any." He relented, offering Rose his arm. "Shall we?"

"We shall." Rose smiled at him, accepted his arm, and they stepped out of the closet together into a hallway very close to the main dining room, where a party was in full swing.

It was clear that the staff had taken advantage of the fact that it was Christmas Eve on the planet below, because the place was decorated for Christmas: Christmas trees, baubles, and the works. It could have looked like the average human cruise ship, if you ignored the few obvious aliens mingling with the others. The majority of the aliens were humanoid.

"They look human." Rose commented to the Doctor.

"It's possible that these people share a common evolutionary link with humans." The Doctor shrugged. "Most of the humanoid races have the same ancestor."

"Including the Time Lords?" Rose asked.

"Well, the Time Lords came billions of years before humans did. But it's possible."

"Attention, passengers." The PA spoke. "We are currently in orbit around the planet Sol 3, otherwise known as Earth. Population: human. It is December 24th, local time."

The Doctor took her hand and pulled her towards the edge of the ballroom towards an angel mannequin. "Excuse me? Passenger 57… terrible memory. Remind me. You would be…?"

The mannequin became active as the Doctor asked his question. "Information: Heavenly Host supplying tourist information."

"Ah! Host!" He turned to Rose. "Many planets have these robots… automated tour-guides, basically. Though I've almost never seen them dressed as angels. Must be in line with the Christmas theme. So, Host, tell me cause I'm an idiot… where are we from?"

"Information: The _Titanic_ originated from the planet Sto in the Cassavalian Belt. The purpose of this cruise is to experience primitive cultures."

"_Titanic_. Who thought of the name?" The Doctor asked.

"Information: It was chosen as the most famous ship in Earth's history."

"Did they tell you why it was famous?"

"Information: All ship designations are chosen by Mr. Max Capricorn, president of Max—Max-Max…" The Host stuttered.

"Hmm… it's a glitch." The Doctor began to pull out his Sonic Screwdriver to fix the Host when some of the staff approached, obviously having overheard the Host malfunction.

"Sorry about that, sir, just a slight glitch in the programming." The staff said as they carted away the still-stuttering Host. "We'll take care of it from here. Happy Christmas." As they stepped away, both Rose and the Doctor clearly heard them say: "That's another one down! What's going on with these things?"

The Doctor and Rose exchanged glances before they drifted off into the ballroom. The band was playing a lively Christmas carol and many couples were dancing to the music. Rose turned to the Doctor and took his hands in hers. "Let's dance." She said, smiling.

"The world doesn't end because the Doctor dances?" The Doctor quoted.

"No, it doesn't." Rose laughed. No, the world certainly didn't end when the Doctor danced. Instead, her world had begun. When she had made love to him, and bonded herself to him (although neither had known it was an actual bond at the time) Rose had seen the whole universe in his mind, the infinite possibilities and complexities of time. Such a thing would have burned out the mind of any human, but since Rose was in transition to becoming a fully fledged Time Lady, it had exhilarated her.

They moved onto the dance floor together and danced their way through a couple Christmas carols until the sound of breaking glass drew the attention of the entire ballroom.

Not too far away from the Doctor and Rose, a young woman, a serving girl by the look of her, had accidentally bumped into one of the passengers and spilled some drinks on him. It was clear to everyone that he was not pleased, despite her repeated apologies.

"For Tov's sake, look where you're going!" The man snarled at her, holding his jacket to show her the wet spot. "This jacket is a genuine Earth antique!"

"I'm sorry, sir!" The girl apologized, bending down to pick up the broken glass.

"You _will _be sorry when this jacket comes out of your wages, sweetheart!" He growled, stalking off. "Staffed by idiots. No wonder Max Capricorn is going down the drain!"

Rose, who had plenty of experience working as a dinner lady and knowing that having such accidents were embarrassing to the extreme, jumped forward and began to help the young woman pick up the broken glass. "Here you go."

"Oh, don't worry yourself, Ma'am. I've got it." The woman said.

Rose shook her head in amusement, but didn't stop. Because of her regeneration, she looked like she was about her late 20's or early 30's. But she was really only twenty-three. She felt too young to be called Ma'am. "It's no problem at all. I've had to deal with men like that before. It's not pleasant at all."

"I hope you mean men besides me." The Doctor commented.

"You're rude. But not that rude." Rose said over her shoulder as she helped the woman finish picking up the glass. "What's your name?" She asked.

"Astrid. Astrid Peth." She said.

"I'm Rose, and that man is my… husband, the Doctor." Rose glanced back at him upon saying the word 'husband'. She knew that they were married in Gallifreyan terms, but she didn't know if Gallifreyan spouses called each other husband and wife, or if they had a different word for it. The Doctor had taught her a little of the Time Lord language, but she was still far from fluent.

The Doctor didn't give any sign that he disapproved of her word choice. "Yes. My wife and I only recently got married. Well… when I say recently… we were separated for quite a while, and then there was a whole year that we'd rather forget… so now we're finally getting our Honeymoon right."

"Oh! Congratulations!" Astrid said happily. "Then you two must be in our Honeymoon suite."

Rose giggled, because their 'Honeymoon Suite' was, in fact, locked inside a closet at that moment. "Something like that."

"Can I get you a drink, sir… ma'am?" Astrid asked.

"Just 'the Doctor and Rose', thanks." The Doctor said.

"Well… I hope that you enjoy the rest of the cruise. They'll be starting shore leave in a while. You wouldn't want to miss that."

"That sounds nice." The Doctor said, although he didn't sound entirely too interested in shore leave. "So, what about you? Do you get any shore leave?"

"Ah, no. The company can't afford the insurance." Astrid said a little sorrowfully. Together they stepped over to a window that looked down upon the Earth. Rose could see Great Britain. It never failed to amaze her how small it looked in comparison to the whole world. If she'd never met the Doctor, she would have been limited to that wet island all her life. "Back on Sto, I used to watch the great star ships leaving for the stars. I always imagined… no, it sounds daft."

"You imagined a different sky." Rose finished for her. It was a feeling that Rose knew very well, that little bit of wanderlust that the Doctor brought out in her. "New sun, new air, new life. A whole universe filled with life. Why stand still when there's so much to see out there?"

Astrid looked at Rose, slightly confused. "Well… yes. It's the whole reason I joined Max Capricorn Cruise lines. To get out there and see it. I used to work in a space port diner… and here I am… still waiting tables." She glanced between Rose and the Doctor. "You two are well-traveled?"

"That's what we do… just for fun." The Doctor said. "Well… that's the plan. Never quite works.

"Then you must be rich." Astrid commented.

"Haven't got a penny." The Doctor said, smirking a little bit. Astrid stared at him in shock. "Stowaways."

Her eyes widened. "You're kidding?"

"Seriously." The Doctor said with a smile.

"No!"

"Oh yeah."

"How did you get on board?" Astrid asked.

"Accident." The Doctor said. "I've got this, sort of, ship thing. I was just rebuilding her. Left the defenses down, bumped into the Titanic. Here we are. Bit of a party, so my wife insisted…"

"Like you needed that much convincing." Rose commented.

Astrid glanced around, as if looking for eavesdroppers. "I should report you."

The Doctor just shrugged. "Go on, then."

She stared at them a moment longer before she leaned in close. "I'll get you two drinks… on the house." And, just like that, she took off towards the bar. She passed by a table that was filled with passengers who seemed to be first class, and they all seemed to be having a laugh at a couple that was sitting near their table. They were a bigger couple, and obviously enjoying the food a great deal, which was probably what lead to the laughter of the other passengers.

The husband sent a glare towards the laughing table. "Just ignore them." He told his wife.

The Doctor and Rose moved and sat down at the couple's table, taking two of the empty seats. "Something's tickled them." The Doctor commented, gesturing towards the laughing table.

The wife snorted a little. "They told us it was fancy dress. Very funny, I'm sure."

Rose noticed that they were dressed some kind of purple American West outfit. While the outfits were certainly not 'Sunday best', she didn't see anything particularly wrong about it considering that most aliens had little sense of Earth fashions.

The husband sat up straighter. "They're just picking on us because we haven't paid. We won our tickets in a competition."

"I had to name the five husbands of Joofie Crystalle in _By the Light of the Asteroid_. Did you ever watch…?" The wife glanced between Rose and the Doctor.

Rose thought back. Between trips with the Doctor, there was very little down-time, and very little time for tele. She knew that it was a soap opera, but that was about it. The Doctor furrowed his brows. "Is that the one with the twins?"

"That's it! Oh, it's marvelous." The wife said.

'Probably not good enough for that lot." The husband motioned towards the laughing table. "They think we should be in steerage."

The Doctor reached into his pocket and pulled out the sonic screwdriver. "Can't have that, can we?" He held the sonic so that his was hidden under his arm to his side and aimed it at the table. The sonic turned on with a buzz and the next thing they knew, the cork of that laughing table's champagne popped and sprayed all over those sitting at the table.

The wife stared in amazement. "Did you do that?"

"Maybe." The Doctor said, sending a little wink Rose's way. She couldn't help a little laugh while the table behind them stalked away to get cleaned up. He slipped the sonic back in his pocket.

"Oh, we like you!" The wife said, grinning broadly.

"We do!" The husband said, reaching across the table to shake the Doctor's hand. "I'm Morvin Von Hoff, and this is my good woman, Foon."

"Foon." The Doctor shook Foon's hand as well. "Hello, I'm the Doctor, and this is my wife, Rose."

"Nice to meet you." Rose said as she shook their hands.

"You're a doctor, you say?" Foon asked. "That's a good thing. I think I'm going to need a doctor by the time I'm finished with this buffet. Have a buffalo wing." She gestured towards the bucket filled with delicious-looking buffalo wings. Both Rose and the Doctor accepted one. "They must be enormous, these buffalo. So many wings!"

Rose quickly stopped herself from laughing.

* * *

"**No words to describe it… they should have sent a poet.": This as a quote from my favorite sci-fi movie of all time: **_**Contact**_**. The full quote is: "Some celestial event. No… no words. No words to describe it. Poetry! They should have sent a poet. So beautiful. So beautiful… I had no idea."**

**Malchior: A reference to "Dragon Ball Z: Abridged". Malchior sounds like such a lovely planet, if you ignore the 300 foot tall, fire breathing trees.**

_**The Restaurant at the End of the Universe**_**/Arthur Dent: It is so hard to write a **_**Doctor Who**_** story without at least one **_**Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy**_** reference. That was it.**


	2. VOTD: Shore Leave and Disaster

**Chapter II: Shore Leave and Disaster**

* * *

The Doctor and Rose enjoyed both the company of Mister and Mrs. Von Hoff and the buffalo wings that the couple offered them. Despite, or maybe because of the fact that they were not made of money like the rest of the passengers, they were a very pleasant couple to talk to. They asked the Doctor and Rose how long they'd been married, and when the Doctor said they were still newlyweds, they congratulated them profusely.

"But watch for when the newlywed phase ends, eh?" Morvin joked.

Their small talk was interrupted by the public address system. "Attention, please. Shore leave tickets Red 6-7 now activated. Red 6-7."

Both Morvin and Foon jumped slightly, pulling out their shore leave tickets. "Red 6-7. That's us! Are you Red 6-7 as well?" They asked the Doctor.

The Doctor shrugged. "Might as well be." He and Rose stood up and began to follow Morvin and Foon.

"Come on." Morvin said to his wife. "We're going to Earth!"

The four quickly moved towards the reception desk towards an older man holding up a sign calling for Red 6-7. Before they made it over, Astrid found them once again, carrying a tray with two drinks.

"I've got you your drinks." She said.

The Doctor took her tray from her and set it on the nearest table. "And I've got a treat for you. Come on."

Together, they hurried over towards the shore leave party. "Red 6-7, departing shortly." He called.

The Doctor pulled out his psychic paper. "Red 6-7, plus two."

The older man nodded, fooled by the psychic paper. "Quickly, sir, and please take three teleport bracelets, if you would."

The Doctor picked up three of the teleport bracelets and handed one to Rose, who took it without question. He offered the other one to Astrid, who stared at it in shock.

"I'll get the sack!" She whispered to him.

"Brand new sky." He reminded her. She relented and took the bracelet, and the three of them slipped it on their wrists.

The older man held up his hand for everyone's attention. "To repeat, I am Mr. Copper, the ship's historian, and I shall be taking you to old London town in the country of U.K. ruled over by good King Wenceslas."

Rose looked at the Doctor in confusion. "Have we slipped into a parallel universe without knowing? I thought Great Britain's ruler was Queen Elizabeth II."

The Doctor shrugged as Mr. Copper continued. "Now, human beings worship the great god Santa, a creature with fearsome claws, and his wife Mary. And every Christmas Eve the people of U.K. go to war with the country of Turkey. They then eat the Turkey people for Christmas dinner… like savages!"

Rose had a hard time stopping herself from laughing out loud. The Doctor raised his hand. "Excuse me, sorry, but, um… where did you get all this information from?" He asked.

"Well, I have a first class degree in Earthonomics. Now stand by…"

But before they could depart a high-pitched voice called out: "And me! And me! Red 6-7!"

The entire short leave party turned to see their final member, a small red-skinned alien with short spines sticking out along his head.

"A bracelet, then, sir?" Mr. Copper asked.

The Doctor jumped forward. "But, hold on… what was your name?" He asked the little alien.

"Bannakaffalatta." The alien answered.

"Okay… Bannakaffalatta. But it's Christmas Eve down there. Late-night shopping, tons of people. He's like a walking conker."

"Rude!" Rose commented towards him.

"No offense." The Doctor said quickly to Bannakaffalatta. "But you'll cause a riot because the streets are going to be packed with shoppers and parties…" Before he could finish the sentence, the whole group was teleported down to a street in London. It was an empty street, no one even around to cause a riot over Bannakaffalatta's appearance. "Oh…"

Mr. Copper took out a credit card. "Now, spending money… I have a credit card in Earth currency if you want to buy trinkets or stockings or the local delicacy which is known as beef. But don't stray too far, it could be dangerous. Any day now they start boxing."

Astrid gazed in wonder at the sights around her, while Rose and the Doctor were not fazed by the sights. Rather, they were more concerned with what they were _not_ seeing. Rose grew up in London and had never before heard it so quiet. The lack of noise was disturbing. Where were all the people?

"It should be full. It should be busy. Something's wrong." The Doctor echoed Rose's thoughts on the matter.

"It's not just this street. It's the whole of London." Rose said. "I can't hear a single car, can you?" The Doctor shook his head, confirming that London was just as silent to him as well.

"But it's beautiful!" Astrid gasped, turning in circles to take in all the sights.

"Really? You think so? It's just a street."

"Oi! Remember I grew up here!" Rose told the Doctor.

"I'm just saying that this is just an ordinary street. There are many beautiful places on Earth. The pyramids are beautiful. And New Zealand… remind me to take you there."

"But it's a different planet. I'm standing on a different planet! There's concrete… and shops, alien shops, real alien shops! Look! No stars in the sky. And… it smells. It stinks!"

Rose was about to come to the defense of her childhood home, but then just rolled her eyes. "Oh, never mind, then."

"This is amazing, Doctor, thank you!" Astrid said happily.

"Yeah? Come on then, let's have a look." The Doctor pointed to a newspaper stand, which contained the only human they had seen so far. He was an older man, bundled up against the chill. The Doctor walked up to him calmly. "Hello there! Sorry, obvious question. But where is everybody gone?"

"Oh-ho! Scared!" The old man said.

"Scared of what?" Rose asked, confused.

"Where have you been living? London at Christmas? Not safe, is it?"

"Why?" The Doctor asked.

"Well, it's them, up above." He pointed skyward. "Look… Christmas before last we had that big bloody spaceship… everyone standing on a roof." That was the Sycorax, just after the Doctor had regenerated into his current form. "And then last year, that Christmas Star electrocuting all over the place, draining the Thames." That was not a story that Rose was familiar with, but it had happened immediately after her and the Doctor's parting at Bad Wolf Bay, his time.

"This place is amazing!" Astrid gasped.

"And this year? Lord knows what. So everybody's scampered. Gone to the country. All except me and Her Majesty." His small television was showing a report saying that the Queen would be staying in Buckingham Palace despite the possible threat. "God bless her!" The old man said, saluting the screen. "We stand vigil."

"Well…" The Doctor said. "Between you and me, I think her Majesty's got it right. Far as I know, this year… nothing to worry about."

Before the Doctor could get another word in, the whole group was teleported back onto the ship, leaving behind the stunned old man, staring into thin air where a small group of people had been standing before.

The shore leave party materialized back on the ship, with the Doctor's mouth hanging open in annoyance and shock. "Great. Now that old man is going to think that we were all abducted by aliens." Rose commented.

"I was in mid-sentence!" The Doctor announced, flabbergasted.

"Yes, sorry about that. There's been a bit of a problem. If I could just have your bracelets…" Mr. Copper began to collect the teleport bracelets.

An official-looking man rushed up to the group. According to the tag on his lapel, he was the Chief Steward. "Apologies, ladies and gentlemen… Bannakaffalatta. We seem t have suffered a slight power fluctuation. If you'd like to return to the festivities… and on behalf of Max Capricorn Cruise liners, free drinks will be provided." This seemed to satisfy a majority of the party and they went to get their free drinks.

Astrid waited one more moment before heading after them to get back to her job. "That was the best!" She told the Doctor and Rose. "The best!" And then she was gone.

After she left, the Doctor took a step closer to the Chief Steward. "What sort of power fluctuation?"

"Nothing to be concerned about, sir." The Chief Steward said. "Sorry for any inconvenience. Happy Christmas." With that, he walked away quickly.

"Is it just me, or all the staff being a little too tight-lipped?" Rose asked the Doctor.

He just sighed, adjusting the fit of his jacket. "I knew I should never have worn this suit… Well… might as well go check it out ourselves!" He and Rose rushed back towards Reception.

The Doctor rushed straight over towards one of the framed screens showing a looped video of the owner, Max Capricorn. "The fastest. The furthest. The best. And I should know because my name is Max." He smiled and a gold tooth glinted.

The Doctor took his sonic screwdriver and turned it on, pointing at the frame. "Isn't that just an advert?" Rose asked.

"Normally, yes, but with a little adjustment, I should be able to patch into the ship's main computer." The Doctor gave a soft exclamation when the video loop ended and pulled up a screen that showed the _Titanic_ and its surroundings. "The shields are off. That's odd. This close to the Earth… they should have their shields on by default because of space junk."

"There's something else as well. Look." Rose pointed to the ship's radar. It was currently tracking three large objects that seemed to be heading straight towards the ship. The Doctor took a quick glance out the window and saw right away that the radar was not faulty. He could see three meteors approaching, and approaching quickly.

"That can't be… that can't be… those meteors are on a direct path to collide with the ship, and if they hit with the shields down…" The Doctor couldn't even finish the thought. Most of the ship would remain intact, but they would be crippled, and most of the people on board would die. "They must not see it on the bridge! Quick! Look for some comms device!"

"There?" Rose pointed, and the Doctor rushed forward and picked it up.

"Is this the bridge? I need to talk to the captain! You've got a meteor storm coming in West 0 by North 2!"

A voice came back over the comm. "Who is this?"

"Never mind who it is!" The Doctor yelled into the comm. "Your shields are down! Check your scanners, Captain! You've got meteors come in and no shielding!"

"You are no authorization. You will clear the comms at once." The Captain said shortly.

"Just look starboard!" The Doctor yelled, but the Captain was obviously not going to listen to him.

By now, most of the people in the immediate area were staring at the Doctor and two of the stewards, including the Chief Steward rushed over. "You'll have to come with me, sir." The Chief Steward said as they took the Doctor's arms and tried to drag him away.

Rose was hot on their tails. "You can't do that! Just listen! There's meteors heading right towards the ship!"

"And you've got no shielding! If those rocks hit, most of the people on this ship are going to die!" He started yelling to everyone in the room. "Everyone! Listen to me! This is an emergency! Get to the life b…" One of the Host became active and pressed a hand over the Doctor's mouth and began to drag him away. Even with Rose fighting against it, there was nothing the two Time Lords could do to match the Host's robotic strength. Astrid, Mr. and Mrs. Von Hoff, and Bannakaffalatta stared in shock as the Doctor was dragged away.

In the corridor, the Host dragged the Doctor and Rose past another small group of passengers, which included the rich snob who yelled at Astrid early, staring at the scene in shock. "Look out the windows!" Rose yelled at them.

At her words, Astrid, the rich snob, and the Von Hoffs went to the windows. All of them saw the meteors headed towards the ship. Bannakaffalatta followed after the Doctor and Rose, and was soon joined by Astrid, Morvin, and Foon.

"Sir, I can vouch for him!" Astrid called.

"Look, Steward, he's just had a bit too much to drink…" Morvin tried.

Mr. Copper rushed forward. "Sir, there seems to be something wrong with the teleports…"

"Not now!" The Chief Steward yelled.

The rich snob watched as a small piece of space rock broke through one of the windows and landed at his feet. Thankfully, according to the computer, the atmosphere was stable, but nothing should have been able to get past the ship's shields, let alone such a tiny rock. He turned towards one of the Host. "You there, has anyone checked the external shielding?"

"Information: you are all going to die." The Host responded simply.

The Chief Steward was dragging both the Doctor and Rose through the maintenance corridors, always from the crowds. But it was too late to stop from getting the attention of Astrid, Mr. Copper, Bannakaffalatta, and the Von Hoffs.

"The shields are down!" The Doctor yelled desperately. "We're going to get hit!"

Moments later, the rich snob caught up with the group, yelling over the noise of everyone else. "Oi! Steward! I'm telling you the shields are down!"

The Doctor looked back at the rich snob, grateful for the backup. "Listen to him! Listen to him!"

But before the Steward could even think about investigating the claims, the entire ship jolted and everyone was thrown off their feet. The Doctor covered Rose's body with his own, holding her as the ship was impacted two more times, each one just as powerful as the last. And then everything was silent.

The Doctor slowly let go of Rose. "It's stopping." They could hear the groans of the damaged ship as it began to drift aimlessly through space. He turned towards the others. "Astrid, are you all right?" He asked.

"I think so…" Astrid said, standing.

The Doctor sighed. "Bad name for a ship. I knew it. Either that, or this suit is _really_ unlucky."

"I think it's just us this time. Jeopardy-friendly. Can't even go on a Honeymoon without running into trouble." Rose said, standing up and brushing off her dress as best as she could.

"Nah. I'm just going to blame the suit." The Doctor commented. He bent down to check on one of the stewards who had not gotten back up. He felt for a pulse and then lowered his head. The man was all ready dead. At least everyone else seemed to be all right, more or less.

The Chief Steward called for everyone's attention. "Everyone? Ladies and gentlemen, Bannakaffalatta, I must apologize on behalf of Max Capricorn cruise liners. We seem to have had a small collision."

The Doctor ignored him, and found another one of the Max Capricorn video loop adverts. It seemed to be only mildly damaged.

"Small?!" Morvin repeated indignantly.

"Do you know how much I paid for my ticket?" The rich snob yelled.

"If I could have silence, ladies, gentlemen…" But no one was listening to the Chief Steward anymore, but had started yelling over everyone else. Finally, the Steward seemed to find his courage and yelled: "Quiet!" They instantly stopped, staring at him. "Thank you. I'm sure Max Capricorn Cruise liners will be able to reimburse you for any inconvenience. But first, I would point out that we are very much alive."

Astrid helped Mr. Copper to his feet, noticing that he had a cut bleeding on his forehead. "Are you all right?" She asked, taking out a small handkerchief and dabbing at the wound carefully.

The Chief Steward continued. "She is, after all, a fine, sturdy ship. If you could all stay here while I ascertain the exact nature of the—the situation…" He began to open up a hatch that presumably led back into the regular corridors of the ship.

"Don't open it!" The Doctor yelled, but it was too late.

As soon as the hatch opened, the Chief Steward was suddenly sucked out into space by the vacuum. Everyone still left hurriedly grabbed onto whatever railing they could. The Doctor used his sonic screwdriver to fix the broken oxygen shield, which ceased the vacuum's deadly pull.

The Doctor turned to look at the rest of the group, slowly letting go of their hand holds. "Is everyone all right? Rose?"

"I'm fine." Rose assured him with a smile.

"Astrid?"

"Yeah."

"Foon? Morvin? Mr. Copper? Bannakaffalatta?"

Each one nodded that they were all right.

Finally, the Doctor looked at the rich snob. "You… what was your name?"

"Ah. Rickston Slade."

"You all right?"

Rickston nodded towards the open hatch. "No thanks to that idiot."

Astrid stared at him in shock. "The Steward just died!"

"Then he's a dead idiot." Rickston spat.

Astrid took a step towards him like she was going to hit him, but the Doctor stopped her. "All right. Calm down. Just stay still, all of you. Hold on…" He walked back over to the hatch. Rose joined him and, after a moment, so did Astrid.

"What happened?" She asked. "Why were the shields down?"

"I don't think it was an accident." The Doctor said.

"The Captain wouldn't even listen to you. He could have just checked." Rose said. "Do you think the Captain…?"

"It's possible."

They stared into space together. Among the wreckage of the _Titanic_ there were countless bodies floating through the vacuum of space. Astrid stared in horror. "How many dead?"

The Doctor sighed. "We're alive. Just focus on that. They'll be time to mourn the dead later."

"Are… are we going to die too?" Astrid asked.

The Doctor turned to face Astrid. "We will get you out of here, Astrid. I promise."

"Okay…" Astrid whispered.

"Don't worry. The Doctor has never let me down." Rose told her. "We'll both get you out of this. All of us."

"That's right. The solution to this is simple." The Doctor looked back the way they came. "If we can get to Reception… I've got a spaceship tucked away. We can all get on board and…"

"Um? Doctor?" Rose called.

The Doctor turned towards her. "What?" And then he looked out the hatch and saw what Rose saw. "Oh…" His smile faded quickly, catching Astrid's attention. She looked out the hatch and saw nothing.

"What is it? What's wrong?"

"That's my spaceship over there." The Doctor whispered.

Astrid looked out into the wreckage and saw nothing that looked like a spaceship. "Where?"

"There. That box. That little blue box." The Doctor said. Sure enough, the Tardis was floating freely in the wreckage. It didn't seem to be damaged at all, but seventy meters of vacuum separated the Doctor from his ship. Even with his superior biology, even he could not survive much longer than a human unprotected in the vacuum of space.

"That's a spaceship?" Astrid asked in disbelief.

"Oi! Don't knock it!" The Doctor said.

"It's the best ship in the universe." Rose defended it.

"It's a bit small." Astrid commented.

"A bit distant." The Doctor sighed. "Trouble is, once it's set adrift it's programmed to lock onto the nearest centre of gravity and that would be the Earth." Sure enough, the Tardis began to make a beeline down to the planet. "Right… new plan!" He hurried over to the comms. "Deck 22 to the bridge. Deck 22 to the bridge. Is there anyone there?"

For a few seconds, no one answered. They could hear something shifted and some noises that could have been moans. And then someone's voice came over the comm. It wasn't the Captain. "This is the bridge."

"Oh hello, sailor. Good to hear you. What's the situation up there?"

There was a few seconds of silence while the sailor checked the readouts. "We've got air. The oxygen field's holding. But the Captain…" He trailed off. "He's dead. He did it. Magnetized the hull and shut down the shields." His voice broke and took on a desperate tone. "I watched while he took down the shields. There was nothing I could do. I tried. I did try."

"All right. Calm down. I believe you." The Doctor said. "Tell me your name. What's your name?"

"Midshipman Frame."

"Nice to meet you, sir. What's the state of the engines?"

"They're um…" There was a brief pause. "Hold on." This time, he definitely groaned in pain.

"Have you been injured?" The Doctor asked.

"I'm all right." Frame replied. "Oh my vot… They're cycling down!"

"That's a nuclear storm drive, yes?" The Doctor asked.

"Yeah."

"The moment they're gone, we lose orbit."

"The planet…"

"Oh yes. If we hit the planet, the nuclear storm explodes and wipes out life on Earth." He glanced at Rose and saw the worry in her eyes. Despite of her change in species, the Earth would always be her birth planet. And the Earth, well… it was the planet his wife called home, so now it was even more important to him than before. Not to mention the people that he cared about down there… former companions and people that he'd met. He couldn't allow this sort of thing to happen to the Earth. His mind raced. "Midshipman, I need you to fire up the engine containment field and feed it back into the core."

"This is never going to work." Frame said, but the Doctor could hear him working on his instructions.

"Trust me; it'll keep the engines going until I can get up to the bridge." The Doctor said, shutting off the comms and turning towards the others.

"We're going to die!" Foon cried.

"Are you saying someone's done this on purpose?" Mr. Copper asked, alarmed.

"We're just a cruise ship!" Astrid cried.

"Okay, okay! First things first… one: we're going to climb through this ship. B… no… two: we're going to reach the bridge. Three—or C: we're going to save the _Titanic_. And coming in a very low four or D or that little 'IV' in brackets they use in footnotes… why. Right then, follow me." The Doctor turned to leave, Rose at his side.

"Hang on a minute!" Rickston yelled after him. "Who put you in charge, and who the hell are you anyway?"

The Doctor turned to face him. "I'm the Doctor. I'm a Time Lord. I'm from the planet Gallifrey in the constellation Kasterborous. I'm 903 years old and I'm the man who's going to save your lives and all six billion of the people on the planet below." Rose quite enjoyed the look of awe that he received from everyone, staring at him like he'd just proclaimed that he was a god. "You got a problem with that?"

Rickston shook his head. "No."

"In that case, allons-y!" The Doctor turned and headed deeper into the bowels of the ship.

Astrid fell into step beside Rose. "That's quite a husband you've got." She said.

"And the best part is that he's so humble." Rose joked, hurrying after him.


	3. VOTD: The Host Gone Mad

**Chapter III: The Host Gone Mad**

* * *

The small group made their way into a stairwell, which seemed just as good as any to lead up to the bridge. The only problem was that the whole thing was choked up with debris from the impact. A few live wires sparked against the metal.

The Doctor examined the mess, trying to spot a safe path through. Apparently, there was because he held up his hand and gestured them forward. "Careful. Follow me."

As a group with the Doctor leading the way and Rose right behind him, they slowly moved up the stairwell, carefully shifting any debris that they could safely.

"Rather ironic, but this is very much the spirit of Christmas." Mr. Copper commented as he followed carefully in Astrid's wake. "It's a festival of violence. They say that human beings only survive depending on whether they've been good or bad. It's barbaric!"

"Actually, that's not true." Rose commented.

"Exactly. Christmas is a time of peace and thanksgiving and…" The Doctor trailed off, shaking his head. "What am I on about? Christmas is always like this for me." He shifted a fallen beam and uncovered a damaged Host. "We've got a Host!" He said excitedly, craning to spot what had broken it. "Strength of ten! If we can mend it, we can use it to fix the rubble."

From the back of the group, Morvin spoke up. "We can do robotics! Both of us!"

"We worked on the milk market back on Sto. It's all robot staff." Foon called up.

"See if you can get it working." The Doctor said, leading everyone else up past the Host. The Von Hoffs stayed down with the robot, checking over the wiring. They only made it another flight before they came to a section that was almost completely blocked off.

"It's blocked." Astrid sighed.

"So what do we do?" The Doctor asked.

"We shift it." Rose said. "I'm pretty sure we can make a hole large enough for us to get through without it coming down on us."

The Doctor smiled at her. "What would I do without you? All right… Rickston, Mr. Copper, and you… Bannakaffalatta… look; can I just call you Banna? It's gonna save a lot of time…"

"No! Bannakaffalatta!" Bannakaffalatta insisted.

"All right then, Bannakaffalatta. There's a gap in the middle. See if you can get through." The Doctor pointed to a small gap that seemed like it would easily fit a person of Bannakaffalatta's small stature.

Bannakaffalatta squeezed past the others and began to crawl through to the other side. "Easy. Good." He paused when the ship lurched and sent some debris falling down on them. Thankfully it was not enough to hurt anyone.

"The whole thing could come crashing down at any minute!" Rickston cried.

"Oh, Rickston, I forgot. Did you get our message?" The Doctor asked him.

Rickston stared at the Doctor, confused. "No. What message?"

"Shut up!" The Doctor yelled at him, causing the rest of the group to grin. Really, the jerk was getting on everyone's nerves.

"Bannakaffalatta, made it!" Bannakaffalatta called from the other end of the small hole.

"I'm small enough. I can make it through." Astrid called out.

"Yes." The Doctor said. "Rose, you go through as well. You could help them shift it from the other side. But…" He pressed his hand to her cheek and lowered his face to hers. Their foreheads rested together and they shared a brief Gallifreyan kiss: a brush of mind against mind. "Be careful."

"I will." Rose promised, pulling away and crawling through the small space with Astrid on her heels. It was a tight squeeze for the two girls, but they managed to make it safely to the other side.

"Thing is, how are Mr. and Mrs. Fatso gonna get through this gap?" Rickston asked.

"We make the gap bigger, that's how!" The Doctor spat at him. "So start!" Rickston started to help, but just about the bare minimum. He really only tossed aside the debris that the Doctor and Mr. Copper had pulled loose.

Rose made it to the other side and helped Astrid along. "Doctor! I can clear it from this side. Just let me know if it starts moving!" She began to work at the gap. She'd never really had the chance to test out her Time Lady strength, but she realized that she was quite a bit stronger than she was as a human. She was certainly no Superwoman, but large pieces of debris that she shouldn't have been able to move let alone lift gave away to her strength.

Astrid, however, noticed something wrong with Bannakaffalatta. He was laying off to the side as if he was injured, but she couldn't see an injury on him. "Bannakaffalatta? What's wrong?" She asked, moving over to him.

"Shh." Bannakaffalatta whispered to her.

"What is it?" Astrid asked, concerned.

"Can't say."

"Are you hurt?" Astrid asked, moving over to his side.

"Ashamed."

"Of what?"

"Poor Bannakaffalatta." He lifted his shirt, revealing that his chest was made up mostly of cybernetic components.

"You're a cyborg!" Astrid gasped.

"Had accident long ago. Secret."

"No, but everything's changed now. Cyborgs are getting equal rights. They passed a law back on Sto. You can even get married." Astrid said.

"Marry you?" Bannakaffalatta asked with a small grin.

"Well, you can buy me a drink first. Come on, let's recharge you." She pressed a button on his torso. "Just stay still for a bit." She pulled away.

"Tell no one?" Bannakaffalatta asked.

"I promise." Astrid said with a smile.

Rose, of course, heard every word with her Time Lady sense of hearing. But she wasn't going to say a word about Bannakaffalatta being a cyborg. Out of all the things she'd seen on her journey with the Doctor, a cyborg was the least. But if he didn't want other people to know, she wasn't going to tell anyone. Astrid joined her in helping to clear the gap, but with such a grin on her face that it had Rose laughing.

"What's going on up there?" The Doctor called, having heard Rose laugh.

"I think Bannakaffalatta and Astrid just got engaged!" Rose called back down to him, Astrid blushed.

From down below, Morvin called up to the Doctor. "Almost done!"

"Good, good." The Doctor said. He pulled away from the gap and found a comm point. "Mr. Frame, how are things?"

Frame's voice came back over the intercom after a few moments. "Doctor, I've got life signs all over the ship, but they're going out one by one."

"What's wrong? Are they losing air?" The Doctor asked.

"No. One of them said it's the Host. It's something to do with the Host."

Shocked, the Doctor turned and looked back down the stairwell towards where Morvin and Foon where working on the broken Host. Ironically, it was just as the Host was beginning to function. "It's working!" Morvin yelled excitedly. But his words were short-lived because the Host grabbed him by the throat.

"Kill. Kill. Kill." The Host spoke in a dull monotone as he bashed Morvin's head against the railing with every word.

"Turn it off!" The Doctor yelled, rushing down the stairwell to help. Foon tried desperately to shut off the Host, grabbing a bunch of wires in his head and pulling them all out in the hope of disabling an important system, but he kept its hold on Morvin.

"I can't, Doctor!" Foon cried, now trying to pry its hand off her husband's throat.

The Doctor arrived, pulling out the sonic screwdriver. "Go!" He yelled at Foon. She followed his orders and began to head up to the gap. The Doctor held the sonic against the Host's hand, trying to shut it off.

"Lock! Double deadlock!" He yelled angrily, because the only lock that the sonic could not break through was a deadlock seal, and a double deadlock was even worse. He put the sonic screwdriver in his pocket and used his own strength to pry Morvin free from the Host's grip. Thankfully, the Host was still mostly buried in rubble, so it would take it a few seconds to free itself. "Okay, both of you! Go upstairs!" The Doctor ordered.

"Run, darling, run!" Foon yelled to her husband. They rushed up to the gap. Mr. Copper and Rickston were waiting for them.

"Rickston! Get them through!" The Doctor ordered, still facing off against the Host.

"No chance!" He snorted, diving through the gap himself.

"Rickston!" Mr. Copper yelled in exasperation.

"I'll never get through there!" Foon cried, despairing at the size of the gap.

"Yes, you can!" Mr. Copper said. "Just let me go through first, and we'll help you from the other side!"

The Doctor yelled into the comm. "It's the Host! They've gone berserk!" But he didn't wait for a reply before rushing back towards the gap to guard their retreat.

Rose, Mr. Copper, and Astrid were trying to help Foon through the gap. "I'm stuck!" She gasped.

"Come on, you can do it!" Astrid encouraged.

Mr. Copper stood up and pushed against the metal pole, using it as a lever to help widen the gap. "It's going to collapse!" He yelled just as Foon was able to make it through. "Rickston, vot damn it, help me!" He yelled, straining under the weight.

"No way!" Rickston said simply, standing back.

"Oh, you giant arse!" Rose cursed, standing up and helping Mr. Copper with the beam. With her strength added, they could hold it up, but not for long.

"Morvin, get through!" The Doctor yelled from below. Morvin obeyed, but he seemed to be having a tougher time than his wife, even with Rose and Mr. Copper widening the gap. The Host was still right behind them. As soon as there was room for him, The Doctor crawled into the gap behind Morvin.

"Doctor! He's stuck!" Astrid yelled down at him.

"Mr. Von Hoff, I know we've only just met but you'll have to excuse me!" He put his hands on his rear and shoved him through the last of the small gap.

Astrid helped Morvin out from under the debris. "That's it. We've got you. Doctor, come on, get through now!"

Instead, the Doctor stepped back out of the gap and turned to face the Host. "Information override! You will tell me the point of origin of your command structure!"

"Doctor! We can't hold it!" Rose called to him.

"Information: Deck 31." The Host answered.

"Thank you." The Doctor said, slipping into the gap and scrambled through quickly. "Let go!" He yelled the instant he was through.

Rose and Mr. Copper let go of the beam, and all the debris crashed down and crushed the Host's head.

Rose rushed over to the Doctor, leapt into his arms, and snogged him passionately. "You're going to give me a heart attack if you keep doing that."

"I'll stay safe for you, you know that." The Doctor told her. "But we're not out of the woods yet. Let's go." He took Rose's hand and they led the group onward.

They soon arrived in what appeared to be the kitchens. It was a mess just like the rest of the ship, but there was one table with food on it. Foon spotted that right away. "Morvin, look, food!" She gasped, and they rushed over.

Rickston rolled his eyes. "Oh great. Someone's happy."

"Don't have any then." Morvin said easily.

The Doctor stepped up to one of the comms. "Mr. Frame, are you still there?"

"Yes, sir, but I've got Host outside. I sealed the door." Midshipman Frame answered.

"They've been programmed to kill. Why would anyone do that?" The Doctor asked.

"That's not the only problem, Doctor. I had to use a maximum deadlock on the door, which means… no one can get in. I'm sealed off. Even if you can fix the _Titanic_, you can't get to the bridge."

The Doctor banged his head to the wall, clearly stumped by that little problem before he shook it off. "Yeah, right, fine. One problem at a time. What's on Deck 31?" He asked.

"Um… that's down below. It's nothing. It's just the Host storage deck. That's where we keep the robots."

The Doctor took a look at the ship's scanner himself. "Well, what's that?" He asked. There was a section of the deck that read completely dark. "See that panel? Black. It's registering nothing. No power, no heat, no light."

"Never seen it before."

"One hundred percent shielding. What's down there?" The Doctor asked thoughtfully.

"I'll try intensifying the scanner." Midshipman Frame said.

"Right. Let me know if you find anything." The Doctor said. "And keep those engines running, whatever you do!" He stepped away from the comm and over to Rose. "Maximum deadlock…" He sighed. "Even if we had the key… you can't break through a maximum deadlock…"

"We'll figure it out, Doctor. We always do." Rose said, nudging his shoulder with hers. He smiled at her.

Astrid walked up towards them, holding a pair of plates. "Saved you some." She said, handing over the plates to the Doctor and Rose, who accepted the food gratefully. "You might be a Time King from Gaddabee, but you need to eat."

The Doctor laughed a little. "Yeah, thanks."

Astrid sat with them. "So… you look pretty good for 903." She said.

"Don't." Rose said. "He doesn't need a bigger ego."

"So… are you both Time Kings?" Astrid asked.

"Time Lords." Rose corrected. "Yes. But I'm not as old as he is. I'm 23."

Astrid's eyes widened. "That's a bit of an… age gap…" She commented.

"Well… it hardly mattered to us. The love was all that mattered. Age means very little to Time Lords." The Doctor said.

"I suppose so… especially when you look like _that_ at over 900 years old." Astrid commented.

Their conversation was cut off when Mr. Copper walked over to join them with a plate of food in his hand. "Doctor, it must be well past midnight, Earth time. Christmas Day."

Like all Time Lords, the Doctor had a sense of where he was in the fourth dimension at all times, a sort of biological clock. It only took a moment to confirm that Mr. Copper was right about the time. "So it is. Happy Christmas."

"This Christmas thing… what's it all about?"

"Long story." The Doctor sighed. "I should know. I was there. I got the last room."

Rose elbowed him. "You're joking?"

"I'm not!" The Doctor insisted.

"But if the planet's waking up, can't we signal them? They can send up a rocket or something." Mr. Copper brightened.

"They don't have spaceships." The Doctor said.

"No, I read about it! They have shuffles… space shuffles…"

"Mr. Copper… it takes months for them to launch a space shuttle." Rose said. His face fell.

"Mr. Copper? This degree in Earthonomics… where's it from?" The Doctor asked.

"Honestly?"

"Just between us here." The Doctor said.

Mr. Copper sighed and lowered his voice so that only The Doctor, Rose, and Astrid could hear him. "Mrs. Golightly's Happy Traveling University and Dry Cleaners."

"You lied to the company? To get the job?" Astrid asked.

"I… I wasted my life on Sto. I was a traveling salesman, always on the road and I reached retirement with nothing to show for it. Not even a home. And Earth sounded so exotic."

The Doctor smiled wistfully. "I suppose it is, yeah."

"How come you know it so well?" Astrid asked.

"Well… I was actually born on the Earth. Long story." Rose said.

"And I was sort of… a few years ago, was sorta made… well, sort of homeless and, um… there was the Earth." The Doctor said. Rose took his hand in hers and they shared a small smile.

"Thing is… if we survive this there will be police and all sorts of investigations. Now… the minimum penalty for space-age fraud is ten years in jail." Mr. Copper scoffed. "I'm an old man. Well, I won't survive ten years."

Before anyone could reply, something heavy hit the door and the Doctor immediately dropped his half-eaten food. "A Host! Move! Come on!" The door was once again hit with such force that it actually dented inward. The entire group left the food and followed the Doctor to the opposite door. The sonic screwdriver quickly took care of the lock and they found themselves in an enormous room that seemed to run the height of the ship. They were in the engine room, and they could see the nuclear storm drive down below. The only way to the door on the other side of the room was a make-shift bridge made from a fallen strut.

"Is that the only way across?" Rickston asked, dismayed.

"On the other hand, it is a way across." The Doctor replied.

"The engines are open." Astrid said, looking at the heart of the engines down below.

"Nuclear storm drive. Soon as it stops, the _Titanic_ falls." The Doctor said.

"But that thing…" Morvin gestured to the strut. "It'll never take our weight!"

"You're going last, mate!" Rickston snapped at him.

"It's nitrofine metal. It's stronger than it looks." The Doctor said.

"All the same, Rickston's right." Morvin sighed. "Me and Foon should…" But before he could continue, he accidentally stepped on a weakened piece of metal on the platform. The whole thing gave away underneath him and he fell screaming into the heart of the nuclear storm drive.

"Morvin!" Foon screamed, reaching for him, but it was too late.

Everyone else was speechless. Rose and Astrid both rushed over to Foon, pulling her away from the edge before she fell after her husband. Foon cried on Rose's shoulder, who just held her tightly. Rose couldn't think of any words of comfort. Rose had once lost the man she loved too, just as he had lost her. But they had both regenerated and come back. There was no coming back for Morvin. For the first time, Rose really understood the pain that the Doctor had felt, in love with a human girl, and _knowing_ that she would die someday and never come back to him.

"I told you! I told you!" Rickston yelled, absolutely oblivious to the fact that everyone hated him at that moment.

"Shut up! Just shut up!" Mr. Copper yelled at him.

"Bring him back! Can't you bring him back? Bring him back, Doctor!" Foon cried hysterically.

"I'm sorry. I can't." The Doctor said, his eyes downcast.

"You promised me!" Foon cried.

"I know. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Rose knew that he really was sorry. She knew him better than most, knew that he personally blamed himself for Morvin's death, even though he had nothing to do with the weak platform.

"Doctor!" Astrid yelled, pointing down the hallway. He looked over just in time to see a group of Host marching towards them.

"Doctor, I rather think those things have got our scent." Mr. Copper said with an oddly calm voice. People will react to life-threatening situations differently. Going super calm was probably Mr. Copper's version of hysterical.

"I'm not waiting!" Rickston yelled, rushing the strut and beginning to make his way across.

"Careful! Take it slowly!" The Doctor yelled after him. It didn't matter that the Doctor didn't like him. He wasn't going to let another person die.

The ship lurched again and Rickston was nearly knocked off the thin strut. But he clung to it and managed to hold on. "Vot help me." He gasped.

"You're okay. One step at a time. Come on, you can do it!"

"They're getting nearer!" Mr. Copper called from his place watching the Host advancing down the hallway.

The Doctor called to Rose, tossing her the sonic screwdriver. "Seal us in!" She caught it and did just as the Doctor asked. The door shut and locked.

"Leaving us trapped, wouldn't you say?" Mr. Copper asked.

"Never say trapped." The Doctor said as Rose returned his screwdriver. "Just inconveniently circumstanced."

Foon wasn't listening to anything that was going on around her anymore. Astrid was holding her back from the edge while she continued to cry at the loss of her husband. "Maybe he's all right. Maybe—maybe there's a gravity curve down there or something. I don't know. Maybe he's unconscious."

"I'm sorry, Foon, he's gone." Astrid said, hugging the distraught woman.

"What am I going to do without him?" Foon cried.

Rickston had made it to the other side, where he immediately pumped his hand in the air in celebration. "Yes! Oh yes! Who's good?"

"Bannakaffalatta, you go next." The Doctor said.

"Bannakaffalatta, small." He said as he began to make his way across the strut.

"Slowly!" The Doctor reminded him as the Host began to pound against the locked down. "Astrid, get across now. And Rose."

Astrid pulled away from Foon and began to make her way across. But Rose stopped at the Doctor. "What about you?" She asked.

"I'll be fine, Rose. Just do it. Go on." The Doctor whispered to her. She nodded and began to set across the gap. "Mr. Copper, we can't wait. Don't argue." Mr. Copper nodded and set off after Rose. "Foon, you've got to get across right now."

"What for?" Foon cried. "What am I gonna do without him?"

From the other side, Rickston called back. "Doctor! The door's locked!"

The Doctor ignored Rickston and focused on Foon. "Just think… what would he want, eh?"

"He don't want nothing!" Foon cried hysterically. "He's dead!"

"Doctor! I can't get this door open!" Rickston yelled. "We need that whirring key thing of yours!"

"I can't leave her!" The Doctor yelled back.

"She'll get us all killed if we can't get out!" Rickston yelled.

The Doctor seemed frozen on the spot for a moment, seemly unable to decide where he was needed the most. With a growl of annoyance, he made his choice. "Mrs. Von Hoff, I'm coming back for you, all right?" She nodded and he stepped onto the strut. The metal began to creak under the weight of five people.

"Too many people!" Bannakaffalatta yelled in warning, his arms spread out for balance.

"Oi! Don't get spiky with me! Keep going!" The Doctor yelled from the back of the group.

"It's gonna fall!" Astrid yelled.

"It's just settling! Keep going!" The Doctor called back.

It suddenly became quiet as the pounding on the door stopped, leaving an eerie silence in its wake.

"They've stopped." Astrid breathed.

"Gone away?" Bannakaffalatta asked.

"Why would they give up?" The Doctor asked.

"Never mind that! Keep coming!" Rickston yelled.

"Where have they gone? Where are the Host?" The Doctor muttered to himself.

Mr. Copper glanced up and pointed. "I'm afraid… we forgot the tradition of Christmas… that angels have wings!" The group looked up and saw that the Host were gliding down from above, encircling them on all sides. They reached for their halos.

"Information: kill."

"Arm yourselves! All of you!" The Doctor yelled up the line. Everyone reached for pipes and pieces of metal, anything that they could use to defend themselves. The Host threw their halos at the small group, but they were able to use their make-shift defenses to hold out for about a minute. It was the Doctor who was injured first. One of the halos clipped his arm, and he cried out in pain.

"Doctor!" Rose cried out, now barely avoiding getting hit with one herself. Mr. Copper was next. One of the halos hit is leg. The strut lurched again and Astrid fell to her knees, clinging to the metal for dear life.

"I can't!" She cried.

"Bannakaffalatta stop!" Bannakaffalatta announced. "Bannakaffalatta proud! Bannakaffalatta cyborg!" He lifted up his shirt and discharged a wave of energy. It completely disabled all of the Host. Most of them fell down into the engine, but one fell onto the strut behind the Doctor.

"Was that an… EMP?" Rose asked.

The Doctor nodded. "Electromagnetic pulse took out all the robotics. Oh, Bannakaffalatta, that was brilliant!" But the Doctor's words caught in his throat when Bannakaffalatta fell down on the strut and Astrid crawled to him. "Bannakaffalatta?" He called.

Astrid checked on his power supply. "He used up all his power!" She yelled.

"Did good?" Bannakaffalatta asked.

Astrid nodded, tears in her eyes. "You saved our lives."

"Bannakaffalatta happy."

"We—we can recharge you… get you to a power point and just plug you in!"

"Too late.'

"No, but… you gotta get me that drink, remember?"

"Pretty girl." Bannakaffalatta smiled at Astrid one last time before he closed his eyes and died. Astrid let out a small sob as and reached to button up his shirt again. Mr. Copper reached around for his power source.

"I'm sorry. Forgive me." He whispered.

"Leave him alone." Astrid cried.

"It's the EMP transmitter. He… he'd want us to have it." He removed the power source. "I used to sell these things. They'd always give me a bed for the night in the cyborg caravans. They're good people. But if we can recharge it, we can reuse it as a weapon against the rest of the Host. Bannakaffalatta might have saved us all."

"Do you think?" Rickston asked from ahead, pointing back behind the Doctor. "Try telling him that."

They turned and saw that the Host was coming back online. "Information: Reboot."

"Use the EMP!" Rickston yelled.

"It's dead!" Mr. Copper yelled back.

Astrid joined him in fumbling with the EMP. "It's gotta have emergency…" She took the EMP from his, searching it all over for emergency settings or power.

The Doctor stood and faced the Host. "No, no, no. Hold on. Override loophole security protocol… Ten! Six six six! Oh… Twenty-one! Four, five, six, seven, eight. Um, I dunno, Forty-two? Uh, one!" That one seemed to work. The Host stopped and waited passively.

"Information: state request."

"Good… right. You've been ordered to kill the survivors, but why?"

"Information: no witnesses." The Host replied.

"But this ship's gonna fall on the Earth and kill everyone. The human race has nothing to do with the _Titanic_ so that contravenes your orders, yes?"

"Information: incorrect."

"But why do you want to destroy the Earth?" The Doctor asked.

"Information: it is the plan."

"What plan?" The Doctor asked.

"Information: protocol grants you only three questions. These three questions have been used."

The Doctor's mouth fell open. "Well, you could have warned me!"

"Information: now you will die." The Host reached up for its halo, but stopped when a lasso was thrown over its head and tightened around his body by non-other than Foon.

"You're coming with me." She said, her eyes sad and full of determination. She closed her eyes and jumped over the side of the strut, pulling the Host down with her to the nuclear storm drive engine.

"No!" The Doctor screamed as she fell down to her death with the Host. He turned and faced the others with such an expression of his face that everyone except for Rose stood in awe of him. She had seen that look before. And everyone who had seen it remembered it forever. The Daleks had called it the Oncoming Storm. It was the look of the Doctor who wasn't going to accept any more. "No more." He hissed.

They made it across the rest of the strut in record time.


	4. VOTD: Because His Name Is

**Chapter IV: Because His Name Is…**

* * *

Once they were through the door, they found themselves within another maintenance area. The Doctor glanced around. "Right. You lot need to get up to Reception One. Once you're there, Mr. Copper… you've got staff access to the computer. Try and find a way of transmitting an SOS. Astrid, you're in charge of this." He gave her the EMP transmitter. "Once it's powered up, it'll take out any Host within fifty yards but then it needs sixty seconds to recharge. Got it? Rose? Take my sonic." He gave her his sonic screwdriver. "Use it to open any doors."

"Hold on…" Rose began, but the Doctor was in back in the swing of things now, and he was going to save all their lives now. He wasn't going to let anything distract him, not even his wife.

The Doctor picked up a First Aid kit and gave it to Mr. Copper. "Mr. Copper, get yourself fixed up, I need you fighting fit. Astrid, where's the power point?"

"Under the comms." She said, pointing.

They moved over towards the power point and the Doctor held the EMP transmitter up towards it. "When it's ready, the blue light comes on there." He said, pointing.

"Doctor…" Rose said, moving closer. "Why are you talking like you're not coming with us?"

"There's something on Deck 31. I'm going to find out what it is." He said.

"But if we have the EMP… what if you meet Host?" Rose asked.

"Well, then I'll just… have some fun, eh?" The Doctor said with a bit of a grim smile.

"Sounds like you two do this kind of thing all the time." Astrid commented.

"Not by choice." The Doctor said. "All we do is travel. That's what we are, just travelers. Imagine it. No tax, no bills, no boss… just the open sky."

Astrid opened her mouth like she was going to say something, and then hesitated. But then she seemed to gather the courage to speak up. "I'm sort of… unemployed now and I was thinking… that blue box is kinda small, but maybe I could squeeze in… like a stowaway."

"It's not always safe." The Doctor warned.

"I've got no one back on Sto, no family… just me. So… what do you think? Can I come with you two? I promise I won't… get in the way."

The Doctor shared a glance with Rose, who smiled at him. He smiled too and then back at Astrid. "Yeah, I'd like that."

Astrid smiled broadly and was about to say something when the ship suddenly gave a lurch more violent than any before. The Doctor stood up and activated the comm. "Mr. Frame, you still with us?" He asked.

"It's the engines, sir. Final phase. There's nothing more I can do. We've got only eight minutes left!"

"Don't worry, I'll get there." The Doctor said firmly.

"But the bridge is sealed off!"

"Yeah, yeah, working on it. I'll get there, Mr. Frame, somehow." The Doctor exclaimed happily when the EMP finished charging. "All charged up! Rose? Look after Astrid. Astrid, look after Mr. Copper. Mr. Copper, look after Rose. And Rickston… um, look after yourself." He turned his attention sorely on Rose. "And I'll see you again, promise." He turned to leave.

"Wait, Doctor!" Rose called, rushing up to him.

"Rose, I've really got to…" The Doctor began, but couldn't get another word out before Rose jumped into his arms and pulled him into a deeply passionate kiss. That pretty much shut up any protest that the Doctor had, and he wrapped his arms around her, hoisted her up against his body, and kissed her back just as passionately. Everyone else stared at them as if asking 'is now really the time?' But neither the Doctor nor Rose cared.

They stopped kissing and Rose gazed into his eyes. "You be careful, yeah?"

"I will, Rose. Oh, believe me, I will." The Doctor promised. He turned and rushed back the way they had come.

"Right." Rose said, taking charge with the group and leading them on towards the next door. She used the sonic on the door's lock and it opened easily. However, there was a Host on the other side of the door.

"Do it!" Rickston yelled. Astrid stepped forward and used the EMP. The Host instantly collapsed, deactivated. The small group stood still, stunned for a second, before they took off again, cheering and laughing at the fact that they were no longer powerless in the face of the once-fearsome Host.

* * *

The Doctor made his way back into the kitchen where he was surrounded by four Host, far too many for him to fight against. But he grabbed a frying pan and held it up, prepared to use it as a weapon if necessary. "Wait, wait, wait, wait! Security Protocol one! Do you hear me? One! One!" The Host stopped advancing. "Okay. That gives me three questions. Three questions to save my life, am I right?"

"Information: correct." The Host said.

The Doctor's mouth dropped open. "No, that wasn't one of them. I didn't mean it. That's not fair. Can I start again?"

"Information: no."

"No, no! No, no, no! That wasn't one either! Blimey!" He started to ramble. "One question left. One question. So… you've been given orders to kill the survivors; but survivors must therefore be passengers or staff, but not me. I'm not a passenger. I'm not staff. Go on, scan me. You must have bio records. No such person on board. I don't exist therefore… you can't kill me. Therefore, I'm a stowaway and stowaways should be arrested and taken to the nearest figure of authority. And I reckon the nearest figure of authority is on Deck 31. Final question: am I right?"

"Information: correct."

"Brilliant. Take me to your leader." The Host surrounded him, and the Doctor began to smile. "I've always wanted to say that!"

* * *

In Reception, Rose, Astrid, Mr. Copper, and Rickston had arrived. After Astrid used the EMP to take care of the Host waiting there, everyone split up to do their jobs, with Rose directing everyone while she sealed the doors with the sonic. "Right. Astrid, keep an eye on the Host. Mr. Copper, check with the computer, we need to send out that SOS."

Mr. Copper rushed over to the computer. But it was without power. "It's not working! There's no power to it, I can't do anything with no power."

"Oh great." Rickston snapped.

Astrid noticed that the teleport station was relatively undamaged, besides the fact that it didn't have power. She went over to the comm. and called the bridge. "Bridge! This is Reception!"

"Who's there?" Came the voice of Midshipman Frame.

"Astrid Peth. I was with the Doctor. Tell me, can you divert power to the teleport system?"

"No way. I'm using everything I've got to keep the engine running."

"It's just one trip. I need to get down to Deck 31."

"And I'm telling you no!"

Rose noticed the conversation and rushed over. "Astrid, what are you doing?" She asked.

Astrid gave Rose an apologetic look and spoke to Frame again. "Mr. Frame… this is for the Doctor. He's gone down there on his own, and I… I can't let him do that alone. He's done everything he can to save us. It's time we did something to help him."

"No, Astrid!" Rose said, taking the teleport bracelet from her. "He's my husband. I should go down."

"Rose, you know as well as I do that you're needed here, helping them." Astrid said, glancing towards Mr. Copper and Rickston. "I'll help the Doctor. It's the least I can do for everything you've done for me."

Mr. Frame sighed over the intercom. "Right. I'm giving you power. But _only_ enough for one trip, a single person."

Astrid and Rose's eyes met over the teleport bracelet, before Rose finally relinquished her grip on it. "Okay, but Astrid… listen to me. You take care of yourself, yeah? The Doctor and I have been in situations like this many times before. Don't do anything foolish." Astrid nodded and then put the bracelet on. "Good luck." Rose said as Astrid teleported away.

* * *

Down below on Deck 31, the Doctor was being escorted by the Host on all sides. Deck 31 was basically right off the Engine room, for the Doctor could hear the roar of the nuclear storm drive from where he was standing. However, things were quickly falling apart.

"Now that is what you call a fixer-upper." The Doctor commented, looking around at all the damage, and then he turned his attention to the impassive Host. "Come on then, Host with the most, this ultimate authority of yours… who is it?" He heard a pneumatic hiss behind him and turned around to see that the doors to a small chamber was opening. "Ooh, that's clever! That's an omnistate impact chamber! Indestructible. You can survive anything in that, eh?" A large figure emerged from the pneumatic steam. "Sit through a supernova or a shipwreck. Only one person can have the power and the money to hide themselves onboard like this and I should know because…"

The large figure emerged from the steam to reveal the owner of Capricorn Cruise liners: Max Capricorn. Of course, he was just a head now, literally, a head on a machine. "My name is Max." He finished with a slightly mad grin. His gold tooth glinted in the light.

The Doctor stared, a little baffled. "It really does that?"

Max Capricorn glanced at the Host. "Who the hell is this?"

"I'm the Doctor. Hello." The Doctor said cheerfully.

"Information: stowaway." The Host said.

"Well…" The Doctor began.

"Kill him." Max began to wheel away.

"Oh, no, no!" The Doctor took a step back as the Host advanced on him. "Wait, but you can't! Not now! Come on, Max… You've given me so much good material like… How to get ahead in business. See 'head'? 'Head in business'? No?"

"Oh, ho, ho! The office joker. I like a funny man. No one's been funny with me for years." Max said.

The Doctor carefully looked around at the broken ship. "I can't think why…" He said a little sarcastically.

"One hundred and seventy-six years of running this company have taken their toll." Max said simply, misinterpreting the Doctor's intent.

"Yeah, but… nice wheels." The Doctor commented.

"No, a life-support system in a society that despises cyborgs. I've had to hide away for years, running the company by hologram. Host, situation report?" He asked, turning his attention to the angelic host.

"Information: _Titanic_ is still in orbit."

"Let me see…" Max's large life-support system moved past the Doctor so that he could gaze down at the nuclear storm drive. "We should have crashed by now. What's gone wrong?" He looked down. "The engines are still running? They should have stopped by now!"

"When they do, the Earth gets roasted. I don't understand. What's the Earth got to do with it?" The Doctor asked.

Max Capricorn frowned at him. "This interview is terminated." The Host moved forward to once again take the Doctor into custody, but he danced out of the way again.

"No, no, no, no, no!" The Doctor held his hands up for the Host to stop. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Astrid peek out from around the corner. He was quite shocked to see her there but didn't question it. He gave her a look that begged her to just stay hidden. He guessed that she got the message because she didn't move. "Hold on! Hold on! Wait! Wait! Wait! Wait! I can work it out! It's like a task. I'm your apprentice. Just watch me! So… business is failing and you wreck the ship so that makes things even worse. Oh yes! No! Yes. The business isn't failing. It's failed. Past tense!"

Max Capricorn frowned. "My own board voted me out. Stabbed me in the back."

"If you had a back." The Doctor commented under his breath. "So… you scupper the ship, wipe out any survivors in case anyone's rumbled you and the board finds their shares halved in value. Oh, but that's not enough, is it? No, because if a Max Capricorn ship hits the Earth, it destroys an entire planet. Outrage back home! Scandal! The business is wiped out."

"And the whole board is thrown in jail for mass murder." Max finished with a grin.

"While you sit there, safe inside the impact chamber." The Doctor continued.

"I have men waiting to retrieve me from the ruins and enough off-world accounts to retire me to the beaches of Pentaxico Two where the ladies, so I'm told, are very fond of…" Max leered. "Metal."

It wasn't even the lewd comment that had the Doctor angry at Max Capricorn, although that comment was pretty terrible. Pentaxico Two was a pleasure planet that would be getting shut down in a few centuries because the women were basically enslaved and were forced to do anything for the right price. "So that's the plan. A retirement plan. Two thousand on this ship, six billion underneath us… all of them slaughtered. And why? Because Max Capricorn is a loser!"

"I never lose!" Max shouted.

"You can't even sink the _Titanic_!" The Doctor shot back.

"Oh, but I can, Doctor! I can cancel the engines from here." Max said. Alarms sounded and the Doctor could hear the engines powering down. They would be closed soon, and then they would only have minutes before impact.

"You can't do this!" The Doctor yelled.

"Host, hold him!" Max said, and two of the Host took the Doctor by the arms and pulled him away from Max. "Not so clever now, Doctor. A shame we couldn't work together. You're rather good. All that banter and yet not a word wasted. Time for me to retire. The _Titanic_ is falling. The sky will burn."

It was very rare for the Doctor to find himself frozen in a dire situation, but he suddenly found himself unable to move. The words had unlocked some of his deeply buried memories. He could see a glorious world on fire, everything burning and dying while a voice screamed 'Gallifrey falls! Gallifrey burns!' He had lost one home to fire, and he would soon lose another.

Max continued his rant, oblivious to the Doctor's state. "Let the Christmas inferno commence! Oh, Host! Kill him!"

One of the Host lifted his halo, preparing to follow his orders and kill the Doctor. But a voice called out for Max Capricorn and everything stopped for a moment. "Mr. Capricorn!" They all looked around and saw that Astrid was seated in a forklift. "I resign!" She put the forklift into gear and charged straight at Max.

The Doctor finally managed to regain control of himself, but he was too late to stop her charge. "Astrid, don't!"

The forklift and Max's life-support unit crashed into each other. Astrid activated the forklift and it lifted his life-support system just enough that just his back tires were on the ground. He couldn't push Astrid's forklift back, but he had just enough traction that Astrid couldn't push him. The Host that was going to kill the Doctor turned its attention on Astrid. It threw its halo at her, but missed. It hit something else instead.

"He's cut the brake line!" The Doctor yelled. But it seemed that Astrid knew her situation. She glanced over at the Doctor, firm resolution in her eyes. "No!" The Doctor yelled, but she broke eye-contact with him and glared at Max Capricorn. She raised the forklift a little higher so that his back tires were no longer on the ground. With him fully off the ground, it was now easy for Astrid to drive him to the edge and push him down into the bowels of the nuclear storm drive. But without her brakes, there was nothing to stop the forklift from tumbling over the edge too. "Astrid!" The Doctor yelled, rushing over, but it was too late. Astrid and the forklift went over the edge and she fell down into the deadly nuclear storm. The engines shut down, but it was too late, she had all ready been vaporized by the heat and radiation.

The Doctor stood up, his face set in a grim frown as he walked back over to the now completely passive Host. The angelic Host moved to his sides and the Doctor snapped his fingers. The Host took him under his arms and they began to fly up towards the top of the ship. The Host stretched out their arms and broke through the ceiling into the floor of the bridge. The thing about maximum deadlocks was that it only applied to the doors. The rest of the bridge was only sealed with a single deadlock, which the Host were more than capable of breaking through.

"Deadlock broken." The computer informed the bridge as the Doctor crawled up through the hole and took his first look at Midshipman Frame, a young man who definitely had been shot in the stomach at some point. The Doctor knew that he probably needed medical attention, but he was probably still running on adrenaline at this point. "Midshipman Frame, at last!" He said.

"Uh, but… the Host!" Frame gasped, staring at the two passive Host in the floor.

"The Controller is dead, so they divert to the next highest authority and that's me." The Doctor said.

"There's nothing we can do!" Frame said, gesturing to the ship readings. "There's no power. The ship's gonna fall!"

The Doctor took the ship's helm, which was a classic wheel… very retro. "What's your first name?" The Doctor asked.

"Alonzo." He answered.

The Doctor froze and then stared at him in shock. "You're kidding me?"

"What?" Frame asked, puzzled.

"There's something else I've always wanted to say. Allons-y, Alonzo!" The ship lurched alarmingly as they entered the Earth's upper atmosphere. "Whoa!" The Doctor exclaimed, attempting to gain control of the ship. But it was a lot more unwieldy than the Tardis and handled, frankly, like a cruise liner. The collision alarm sounded and the Doctor used his foot to call up the alarm on the computer. It was able to show the impact zone. The Doctor recognized it immediately. "Ah. Of course." He sighed. He picked up one of the comms and dialed out. "Hello, yes, um… could you get me Buckingham Palace?" After a few seconds it connected. "Look, this is the Doctor! Don't ask any questions; just get the royal family out of Buckingham Palace! Listen to me! Security Code 771! Now get out of there!" He slammed down the comm, hoping that they took his advice and got Queen Elizabeth out of the palace.

A terrifying minute later, the computer gave another alert. "Engine active. Engine active."

The Doctor yelled as he pulled back on the wheel. Alonzo Frame fell back against the back wall. After a heart-stopping moment, the Doctor was able to gain control of the ship and they narrowly missed hitting Buckingham Palace. The Doctor gasped in shock as they sailed over the royal palace, hardly able to believe his luck.

The Doctor and Alonzo Frame stared at each other in amazement and began to laugh loudly from the sheer joy of evading death by a narrow margin. Now fully in control of the ship, the Doctor guided it back out of the atmosphere and back into a stable orbit.

Once the ship was steady, the Doctor let go of the wheel and leaned against the wall. Alonzo Frame joined him, holding his wound and groaning a little, but still smiling.

"Used the heat of re-entry to fire up the secondary storm drive." The Doctor explained. "Unsinkable. That's me."

"We made it." Alonzo Frame sighed.

The Doctor got back up and went to the comm., ringing up Reception One. "Rose? Are you there?" He asked.

A few seconds later, Rose's voice came over the comm. and the Doctor sighed with relief. "We're all fine, Doctor. A few bumps and bruises, but I've all ready used the sonic screwdriver to patch that up. You've saved us. I knew you would."

The Doctor sighed. "Not all of us."

There was a few seconds of silence before Rose asked. "Where is Astrid? Is she with you?"

"Rose… Astrid… she didn't…" The Doctor trailed off. And then, suddenly, he bolted upright, his eyes wide with excitement. "How did Astrid get down to Deck 31?" He asked Rose.

"She used one of the teleport bracelets." Rose said.

"Yes! I thought I saw one on her wrist!" The Doctor exclaimed happily. "She was definitely wearing one of the teleport bracelets! That means I can save her!" With that he rushed out the door and Alonzo Frame came after him as quickly as he could.

* * *

**LES: Only one more chapter for Voyage of the Damned!**


	5. VOTD: You Are Flying

**Chapter: You Are Flying**

* * *

The Doctor burst into Reception with little fanfare, holding out his hand to Rose. "Rose! The Sonic!" He called, and she tossed it to him. He caught it and ran over to the teleport system. "Mr. Copper, the teleports, have they got emergency settings?"

Mr. Copper scratched his head. "I don't know. They should have."

"Astrid fell, Mr. Copper. She fell. What's the emergency code?"

"Uh… let me see." Mr. Copper said, joining the Doctor by the teleport.

Alonzo Frame ran into the room soon after the Doctor. "What the hell are you doing?" He asked, still holding his side.

"We can bring her back!" The Doctor yelled, turning the sonic on the teleport.

Mr. Copper took up the explanation since the Doctor was too absorbed in his work to continue the commentary. "If a passenger has an accident on shore leave and they're still wearing their teleport, their molecules are automatically suspended and held in stasis so that we can just trigger the shift…"

The Doctor finished his work with a flourish and pressed a button. "There!" He spun around. In the middle of the room, a glowing and transparent figure appeared. It was Astrid, she gazed around in confusion.

"I'm falling." She said vaguely.

"Only halfway there." The Doctor muttered, turning back to the control panel and taking the sonic to it once more. "Come on!"

"I keep falling." Astrid's glowing form whispered.

"Feed back the molecule grid; boost it with the restoration matrix." The control panel sparked, forcing the Doctor to jump away. "No, no, no, no! Need more phase containment!"

"Doctor…" Mr. Copper began.

But the Doctor ignored him. "No! If I can just link up the surface suspension…"

"Doctor, she's gone." Mr. Copper said firmly.

"I just need to override the safety. I can do it!" The Doctor said desperately.

"Doctor… let her go." Mr. Copper said.

Astrid was still a glowing transparent ghost-like figure, and her form wasn't getting any stronger, nor was it getting any weaker. The Doctor yelled and kicked the teleport control panel angrily. "I can do anything!"

Rose ran up to him and pulled him into an embrace. He broke down, holding her so tightly that it was only her superior lungs that kept her breathing.

"Stop me falling." Astrid's form whispered.

The Doctor let go of Rose and walked over towards Astrid. Mr. Copper moved up beside him. "There's not enough left. The system was too badly damaged. She's just atoms, Doctor. An echo with the ghost of consciousness. She's stardust."

The Doctor sighed. "Astrid Peth, citizen of Sto, the woman who looked at the stars and dreamt of traveling… now you can travel forever." He used the sonic to open up a window behind her. Astrid's form broke apart, turning into sparkling motes of light. "You're not falling, Astrid. You're flying." The stardust drifted out the window to begin its never-ending journey across the universe.

Everything became silent.

* * *

The Doctor had used the sonic screwdriver to fix up Midshipman Frame as best as he could, but still urged the man to get some more medical treatment as soon as possible. Frame had thanked him and gone to check on the status of the ship. Before long, he returned. "The engines have stabilized." He said. "We're holding steady till we get help and I've sent the SOS. A rescue ship should be here in twenty minutes. And they're digging out the records of Max Capricorn. It should be quite the story."

Mr. Copper sighed. "They'll want to talk to all of us, I suppose?"

Alonzo Frame nodded, completely ignorant of Mr. Copper's situation. "I'd have thought so, yeah."

Mr. Copper wandered over to the Doctor and Rose with a sigh. "I think, uh… one or two inconvenient truths might come to light. Still, it's my own fault, and ten years in jail is better than dying."

Mr. Copper trailed off when Rickston Slade came over. "Doctor… I never said… thank you." He pulled the Doctor into a brief hug, which the Doctor didn't even pretend to return. "The funny thing is… I said Max Capricorn was falling apart. Just before the crash… I sold all my shares, transferred them to his rivals. It's made me rich. What do you think of that?" The Doctor and Rose gave him incredulous looks of shock, amazed that there was such a man in the universe who could think of money after what just happened. Rickston's mobile rang and he answered it, walking off. "Salvain? Those shares… I want them triple-bonded and locked."

Mr. Copper knew from the looks on the Doctor and Rose's faces just what they were thinking. "Of all the people to survive, he's not the one you would have chosen, is he?" He asked frankly. "But if you could choose, Doctor, if you could decide to lives and who dies… that would make you a monster."

Neither the Doctor nor Rose responded to that. They didn't know what to say. They'd both held life and death in their hands at one point. The Doctor did it all the time. He would let people die if their deaths were a fixed point in time, but he would save all he could. And Rose literally once had all of time and space in her hand. She had destroyed an entire Dalek fleet and created an immortal being by accident. But that was their lot in life: they were Time Lords, keepers of the universal order. They were not so much Lords as humble servants, doing Time's bidding across the universe.

The Doctor sighed and handed over one of the teleport bracelets to Mr. Copper. "Mr. Copper, I think you deserve this." He took two more bracelets for himself and Rose.

Mr. Copper smiled and accepted the bracelet before slipping it on his wrist, as did the Doctor and Rose. The Doctor entered some coordinates into the teleport control panel. Alonzo Frame saw what they were doing and stood to stop them, but then he stopped with a sigh and simply saluted them. The Doctor saluted back before he activated the teleport and sent them down to Earth.

* * *

They landed in a field just outside London, and the Doctor was pleased to find that his telepathic connection to the ship had not led him wrong; the Tardis was exactly where he expected it to be. The Doctor, Rose, and Mr. Copper set off on a walk over towards the Tardis while snow fell around them.

"So, Great Britain is part of, uh, 'Europee' and just across the British Channel you've got Great France and Great Germany." Mr. Copper said.

"No, Mr. Copper." Rose laughed. "It's just France and Germany."

"Yes, only Britain is great." The Doctor said with a smile.

"Oh… and they're all at war with the continent of Ham-erica?"

"No, well… not yet. Uh… could argue that one." The Doctor said thoughtfully. He walked over to the Tardis. "And there she is!" He lovingly patted the blue wood. "Survive anything!"

"You know, between us, I don't even think this is real snow. I think this is the ballast from the _Titanic_'s salvage entering the atmosphere." Mr. Copper said.

The Doctor looked up into the sky. 'Yeah. One of these days it might snow for real."

"So, I suppose you'll be off?" Mr. Copper asked.

"The open sky!" Rose said happily.

"And, uh, what about me?" Mr. Copper asked. "What am I supposed to do?"

The Doctor thought for a moment and then held out his hand. "Give me that credit card."

Mr. Copper pulled it out of his pocket and handed it over to the Doctor. It was your average pre-paid credit card that could be filled with money. "Well, it's just petty cash, spending money. It's all done by computer. I don't really know the currency so I thought a million might cover it."

Rose stared at him. "A million? Pounds?"

"That's enough for trinkets?"

"Mr. Copper…" The Doctor said, handing back over the credit card. "A million pounds is worth fifty million credits."

Rose was not an expert on space currency, but she knew what a million pounds could buy, so she could understand the look of awe that passed over Mr. Copper's face.

"How much?" He asked, shocked.

The Doctor did some quick mental calculations. "Fifty million and… fifty-six credits."

"I… I've got money!" Mr. Copper gasped.

"Yes, you have." The Doctor said, smiling at the look of joy on Mr. Copper's face.

"Oh my word… Oh my vot! Oh my goodness me! Ya-ha!" Mr. Copper exclaimed.

"It's all yours, Planet Earth!" The Doctor said, gesturing towards London. "Now that's a retirement plan. But just you be careful, though."

Mr. Copper clutched the credit card to his chest, smiling brightly from ear-to-ear. "I will! I will! Oh, I will!"

"No interfering. I don't want any trouble. Just… just have a nice life." The Doctor said, patting his shoulder.

"But I can have a house! A proper house, with a garden, and… and a door and… Oh, Doctor, I will make you proud!" He hugged the Doctor, and this time, the Doctor gladly hugged him back. And then he shared a quick hug with Rose. "And… and I can have a kitchen with chairs, and windows, and lace…!" He skipped off across the field.

"Where are you going?" Rose called after him.

Mr. Copper laughed. "Why, I have no idea!"

"No, me neither." The Doctor said as he unlocked the Tardis.

"But, Doctor…" Mr. Copper stopped and turned back around to them. "I won't forget her."

The Doctor met Mr. Copper's eyes and nodded gravely. He and Rose glanced up at the sky, just in time to see a bright streak of blue light shoot across the sky, as if it were one last good bye from Astrid before she went on her journey. They look over and see Mr. Copper skipping away. "Happy Christmas, Mr. Copper." The Doctor said softly before he stepped into the Tardis with Rose. A few seconds later, it dematerialized into the Time Vortex.

* * *

Rose pulled off the beautiful red dress that she had worn for the _Titanic_. Of course, it was anything but beautiful now. It had nearly been destroyed in the chaos of the shipwreck. She sighed in disappointment, sure that even the Tardis wouldn't be able to repair the damage done to the fine dress. She set it aside and reached for some of the clothes that was still onboard the Tardis since before her brief exile to another universe, but she paused when she took the shirt and jacket in hand.

She couldn't explain why, but she just didn't like the look of those clothes anymore. One thing for sure, she knew that she wasn't going to be caught dead wearing these sort of clothes anymore. She tossed them away in disgust.

"It's because of the regeneration." A voice said behind her. She turned around and saw the Doctor walk in, loosening his tie and pulling it off. "It's one of the things that are sure to change because of regeneration: your sense of fashion."

"Oh, is that why you don't wear jumpers and leather anymore?" Rose asked.

The Doctor nodded. "Some of my regenerations have made some… rather odd fashion choices."

Rose laughed. "I'll say!" When she had looked inside the Doctor's mind, she saw each of his past regenerations, and she had met his fifth one. The celery pinned to his lapel had been odd, but it had gotten odder still. "Speaking of your fashion sense, just what was with that scarf? With all the running you do, I'm shocked you never hanged yourself with it!"

"Believe me, I've wondered that myself." The Doctor commented. Honestly, he wasn't sure how he managed to avoid regeneration-by-strangulation. "But I'm more interested in you right now. Go to the Tardis wardrobe and take whatever catches your fancy. What's mine is yours now."

Rose reached for a sheet to cover herself with, since she was only in her knickers and bra. But then she thought better of it and brazenly walked down the halls of the Tardis towards the wardrobe in her underclothes, giving the Doctor a heated look as she passed.

The Doctor quickly removed his jacket and followed after her. After all, they had as much time as they wanted in the Vortex, and discovering her new fashion sense _could_ wait a little longer…

* * *

All in all, Rose was rather shocked that she managed to get into the wardrobe that same day, with the Doctor having caught up to her in the hallway, pulled her into the zero gravity room and, well, learned that having sex in zero gravity wasn't as easy as one might imagine. But they'd managed it all the same.

And now she knew what her fashion sense was: kind of hippie. She'd found herself drawn to a pair of leggings, a short shirt, and a floral-patterned tank-top. For the finishing touch she pulled her hair into a messy pony-tail and gazed at herself in the mirror.

_It could have ended up worse._ Rose thought. There were some clothes stashed in the wardrobe that she hoped that she never did more than look at.

"So, it's America in the sixties?" The Doctor asked from the doorway, grinning at her. She moved up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. "It looks good on you." He whispered, brushing his lips against her neck.

Rose laughed a little. "You told me that Time Lords don't care what their bonded mate looks like."

"That doesn't negate the fact that you're beautiful." The Doctor said earnestly.

But even with the attempts at seduction, Rose could tell through their telepathic link that the Doctor was really sad. She knew from his mind that he loved traveling with companions. In fact, he loved it so much that Rose was really the first time that he'd been content with a single companion at a time. And just because he was married to Rose didn't mean that he wouldn't appreciate more company. If there was one thing the Doctor loved more than getting into trouble, it was showing someone the wonders of the universe.

He'd lost a potential companion today, and he mourned her loss like he mourned every companion who had died while traveling with him even though Astrid had never set one foot on the Tardis.

"Astrid's death was not your fault." Rose whispered to him. "It was my fault."

"Rose…" The Doctor began.

"No. It is. I could have stopped her from going down on Deck 31. I should have stopped her. But she insisted." Rose said.

The Doctor sighed. "It never gets any easier to lose people, even have nine hundred years."

"I know." Rose said.

Upon those words, it occurred to the Doctor that he was not the only one who had lost someone. Rose had lost the rest of her family to be with him. They were in a parallel world where Rose could only have the occasional phone conversation.

Unless…

The Doctor pulled away from her. "Come with me, I've got a surprise for you." He said and led her back out to the console.

* * *

He brought her back in time, to the Powell estate in London. Rose opened the door of the Tardis and knew instantly when he had brought her. It was during her first 'year' traveling with the Doctor, even though it had only been a few days for her. She could see all the Missing posters of herself spread across the estate.

The Doctor stepped out after her. "As long as you don't tell her who you are." He said. "She wouldn't believe you anyway, because she couldn't recognize you, and she doesn't know anything about me yet… even the leather-clad version of me."

He took her hand and, together, they walked into the estate and up towards Jackie's apartment. Rose had barely knocked on the door twice before it was pulled open by her mother. As the Doctor said, she gave absolutely no sign of recognition. "Oh, please tell me you have news of my Rose?" She asked, glancing desperately between them.

"I…" Rose began. "I just wanted to let you know that your daughter is safe. She's safe and happy and she'll be back in a few months."

Jackie didn't seem to know what to make of that information. On the one hand, she looked like she wanted to tell off the odd strangers for being so vague, but on the other hand, she looked glad for any sort of news, even if it wasn't information about her daughter's whereabouts. Eventually, she decided on grateful. "Thank you." Jackie said, nodding and shutting the door.

The Doctor and Rose left, heading back towards the Tardis. "Well, I must say that was a much better first impression on Jackie Tyler than the one my leather-clad self gets stuck with. I _swear_ I can still feel the force of her slap!"

"I still can't believe that was the first time you've ever been slapped by a mom!" Rose said. "With all the people you've picked up over the years, none of their families were resentful?"

"In those days, my companions did not see their families again until they left the Tardis." The Doctor said. "So, yes, that was the first time I'd met a mother. But I guess it's not the last time. I met Martha's mum. She slapped me too."

"Just trying to make up for all the missed slap opportunities." Rose commented.

They were still talking about slaps and mothers when they boarded the Tardis and took off for parts unknown.

* * *

**LES: Voyage of the Damned is done! But before I work on Partners in Crime, I'm going to write up a quick prequel to these stories, mainly about the first time the Doctor and Rose had sex and created their bond (though neither knew it was a bond at the time…) Watch out for it!**


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